A very ripe strawberry on a pot of yoghurt containing very little, nutritional promises on foods that are too rich… The association for the defense of consumers and users CLCV is calling on Wednesday January 19 for better supervision of industrial practices on consumer product packaging.
The association has “screened the packaging and composition of nearly 900 products” in five years, from 2017 to 2021. Whatever the product concerned, breakfast cereals, beef dishes, breaded fish, biscuits, vegetarian products, energy drinks, yogurts, the association has identified practices “which mislead the consumer”.
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These are, for example, “beef ravioli with only 4% beef”, or a dairy product displaying a beautiful fruit on its packaging when it does not contain any “only a very small amount, or even non-existent”, notes the association, which also alerted to the “nutrition or health claims”, for example through the use of terms like ” detox “.
“As for the origin of the ingredients, it very often remains unknown despite the many French flags that we have noted but which in fact indicate the place of packaging or manufacture”, still regrets the CLCV, which finally alerts on certain products for children “very sweet, greasy, salty and full of additives”.
“Introduce maximum quantities” of certain products
How to improve consumer information? The association asks in particular “the establishment of minimum thresholds of ingredients to be able to highlight their images”, as well as’“better supervision of the use of nutrition and health claims”.
She also judges “essential to establish maximum amounts of additives, flavorings, salt, fat and sugar in children’s products”, encouraging manufacturers, “without waiting for binding regulations”, to use fewer additives and flavorings and to be more transparent about the origin of the products.
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“Regarding the practices of manufacturers, we have noted, following our surveys, improvements in the recipe of certain products, deletions of mentions, the display of the Nutri-Score which was not displayed before…”, explains to AFP Lisa Faulet, scientific and food manager of the association.
But these changes “are unfortunately not generalized to all products since these are voluntary initiatives by certain brands”, she continues, calling for “go further at the regulatory level”.
